Crashed our 1990 Olds Custom Cruiser

First full rainy day of fall here in Washington....and my 17-year-old son had his first accident. He's fine but unfortunately, he did demolish the front clip of his near-mint 1990 Custom Cruiser. Came around a bend and someone was stopped to turn left and he slid into the back of them. Their SUV had only super minor damage. Does anyone have or know of any available '86-90 Custom Cruiser front-end parts? The bumper is fine but the headlight bezels, grille, grille brace, and front clip are wrecked because he went under their bumper.

I think the first thing I would do, is bring the car to a reputable auto body shop for an assessment of what is fixable.  

I can only judge by the pictures and I know you said you needed a front clip.  But looking at the pictures, those fenders look like they are salvageable.  If they are, that's the way I would go.  Remember, you'll never match the woodgrain on a 35 year old car, paint can be matched.  

From your pictures, I don't see any wood grain damage.  The hood may also be salvageable.  You'd be surprised what a good auto body shop can do.

This place may be able to help you with parts, probably a good days drive:  https://www.llclassicauto.com/

Good Luck

Tom

I think I only need a front end panel and grille. The fenders and hood are fine, I just can't open it because the front panel is pushed over the front of it. I'm going to try to get the grille off and look under it today. The bumper wasn't touched.

J & J Auto Wrecking 800 425 1555 some wagons and sedans listed on their site

also Car-part.com you can search nationally. some yards will ship, some won't.

Thank you, I've reached out to all the places you guys listed and am awaiting responses. I've been underneath and it appears the fenders and hood are undamaged but the braces for the front end panel are bent, the grille and bezels are busted, and the panel itself is cracked in half at the hood ornament and drivers side bezel. My son is talking to his tech school's body shop class to see if they want to help out for practice. Save some money with painting. The rest I'm pretty sure I can fix with parts and I actually have a lead on two NOS bezels and a a grille.

My son and I found a NOS header panel for a 1980-85 CC with the painted wind split. All the mounting is the same I would just need the two grilles. Would it be blasphemy to put an older front end on a '90? I actually kind of like the older style front end and it would match the '83 my Dad had.

I say, do what you like, your the one that has to look at it every day.

Lots of people have always swapped year to year, model to model, parts between vehicles to get the combination they want or can get. If you were talking about wheels, nobody would blink an eye to a different year going on, so all relative.

If it isn't a concourse restoration, no rules except those they you make for yourself.

I would do it, but then it's your car. At this point where are you going to find another one?

As had been said, it's your car, do what you want.

But one thing, I noticed, you described the wagon, as near mint. So, reading between the lines, originality means something to you.

Use the wrong year one, until you find the right year one.

Tom

if that crack by the hood ornament is the only damage, talk to a shop to see if there are any options to save that one, I know regular welding would be out, as if it's like the piece on my Pontiac wagon it's cast white, or pot metal, but maybe brazing? as I know that has been done for metals that can't be welded and when done properly usually still makes for a good repair.

I bet that header panel can be repaired. The header panel on my '76 Cutlass is a plastic/fiberglass like material. Some of the mounting posts were cracked/broken and have been repaired with epoxy or similar...

We decided to keep it original, he doesn't like the split grille as much. I'm not sure I can repair that header. Can it be repaired if it is completely snapped in half? A lot of the studs on the back are snapped off also. I haven't had a chance to remove it and check yet. My son is still driving it to work and school.

if it is more of a plastic type material I think it would probably be easier, if it's pot metal like my Pontiac wagon, then it might be more problematic especially if brazing doesn't work.

kind of like an incident a friend of mine had years ago, he had a 83 ford passenger van, straight 6 with a three on the tree, the problem was that the steering column shift collar broke internally, and the collar from an automatic wouldn't work and the collar was cast pot metal so it couldn't be welded back together, the friend finally just got tired of looking as the three on the tree was extremely rare for that series van or other fords that had the same steering column, he finally cut a hole in the floor and modified the dog house and installed and floor shifter.

I don't know how similar they are, but there's an 85 Custom Cruiser in a Pick N Pull in Dallas, TX that looks to have a good header panel and grill on it.  You can find it on www.row52.com  Just fill in Oldsmobile and Custom Cruiser, and how many miles from your zip code (which you also have to enter.)  It's the only one within 500 miles of 66201.  You cannot search farther out than 500 miles from a given zip code.

Here's a link to the one in Dallas.
https://row52.com/Vehicle/Index/1G3BP81Y4JR306140

Sorry to see that happen, though glad he wasn't hurt and the car isn't that badly hurt either. The weather's been pretty nasty here the last couple of days.

Yeah, and it will only get wetter from here on out. I fiber glassed the front end back together and put it back. I probably won't put the new parts on until after winter.

I was actually able to glue the grill back together and most of the headlight bezels so now it's not so bad for winter.

We did get a front end panel from an '80 98 and they are the same except the bezel nuts are metal not nylon.  it's burgundy so in the spring we'll put it on and get it painted to match.

The repair looks pretty good!

this is kind of unrelated but I was wondering if you leave that 10 by 20 you have the car parked in up during the winter, as I have one but have been worried about if it would be able to handle being left up during winter. As then I could keep my dually covered for the winter rather then leaving it exposed in the backyard.

but it is a beautiful repair on the grill.

[quote="goldwolfnhn"]this is kind of unrelated but I was wondering if you leave that 10 by 20 you have the car parked in up during the winter, as I have one but have been worried about if it would be able to handle being left up during winter. As then I could keep my dually covered for the winter rather then leaving it exposed in the backyard.

I used one of these for years at my old house and here in Ohio we get some pretty nasty winter storms . I bought 8 tube sand bags (sleeves that are filled with 60 lbs of sand) ,these are things that Home Depot /Lowes sells that people use to add weight to the rear of a vehicle in the winter . I secured them at the base of the support poles of the portable garage and never had any issues as far as the thing blowing over .

I worry more about the cover, I live in Wisconsin so we get a good bit of snow, as for holding it down I was going to do what I do for most of the outdoor craft shows, ratchet straps from the frame to the truck or the two spare tires for the truck and the set of tires I saved from my parents 88 suburban, I have a side kit for my 10 by 20 so I'd just have to get the two end pieces.

I haven't been back to this thread in a while but Norman (the CC) is finally back together today. Thanks to everyone for their advice. My son and I got all the panels lined up this weekend and I got the final touches, hood ornament, and nameplate, done today. Our local Maaco, actually a good one, had the exact paint he was repainted with 22 years ago still and was able to replicate it. I had new rear fillers done also but haven't installed them. They were harder to match and aren't exactly the same as the front, but oh well. Also, I know the hood ornament is wrong but my son and I liked it better and it pays tribute to my long-ago sold 1980 98 Regency Coupe I wish I could get back too.

goldwolfnhn, we usually keep it in the cover in winter but last winter we got walloped and luckily I dug the car out before two feet of snow slid off the house roof and broke it.  It's repaired now and we have some snow guards to put on our metal roof this year.